In today’s IGOTD, Daniel Zimmerman offers a refresher course on the four main rules of gun safety. First and foremost: muzzle control. If you avoid pointing your weapon at something you don’t want to shoot, you eliminate 90 percent of the bad shit that can go down. Flip that around. If you want to shoot something, it’s best to keep your muzzle pointed at it. Which means I have three reasons why I disagree with the reloading technique demonstrated to the OFWGs by mdstraining.com above . . .
1. “Up” is not [necessarily] a safe direction. If the instructor above had a negligent discharge (ND), the bullet would ascend heavenwards. The chances of it hitting a light aircraft may be minimal, but who knows where it would go? The fifth rule of gun safety: know your target and what lies beyond it. At a gun range, an upwards-aimed ND could cause some major ricochet action.
2. I know it sounds crazy, but anytime you point a gun upwards, you run the risk of shooting yourself in the head. Oh sure, out on the range, standing still, you’re good. But what if you’re reloading while running? Your gun muzzle will be bouncing up and down and side to side, a few degrees of angle from your noggin. Not good. Add in adrenalin-fired manual imprecision and, well, why run that risk?
3. Turning the gun up and sideways to reload takes your sights off the target. After a reload, you have to spend precious seconds reacquiring your sight picture. Instead, keep the gun pointed at the threat and reload. The gun is still right there in your “visual workspace.” You don’t need to glance sideways (and you know you will). Who says you need to see the empty hole to “index” a fresh mag anyway? I’m no expert, but I can swap mags with my eyes closed. And do it even more effectively with my eyes open and the gun pointing downrange.
Whatever works, right? Wrong. Safety first, last and always.